Why Do Yogis Say Namaste? (Definition, Meaning & Proper Use) (2024)

When asking a group of teachers or students what namaste means to them, we typically hear a wide array of ideas. Most include light, love, the divine, or honor. Perhaps most common is something like, “the divine in me bows to and honors the divine in you.” – Mark Stephens

“When I first started practicing yoga, saying Namaste felt a bit disingenuous and even cheesy. I’d hear the teacher’s explanation that her highest Self sees and honors my highest Self. I felt uncomfortable with the idea that a part of her was speaking to a part of me I didn’t even know about.

My feelings around using the word Namaste shifted after developing a consistent meditation practice. Observing my thoughts and emotions from a place of non-judgement revealed a better way to engage with the world within and around me. Witnessing internal dialogue places you in the role of awareness or observation. Non-judgemental awareness is within all of us; it’s what we call Higher Self. It is truly Higher, I think, because this way of viewing the mind pulls us up from the day-to-day role of habits and thought processes. Now, when I hear and speak the word Namaste, I think of it as showing respect and gratitude to consciousness, to pure awareness, which has driven life in this universe far before and far beyond our current existence.

I would encourage teachers to continue using the word Namaste, even if, and perhaps especially if, they get funny looks from their students. Offering a word that taps on a student’s curiosity is a way to lead them further into yoga, into looking for deeper meaning and a greater understanding of their experience.”

“Using the term Namaste to begin or end a yoga class requires respect for the spiritual origins of the term and its Hindu roots. Unfortunately, the word Namaste has made its way into the pop culture lexicon. It is often used too casually, without proper knowledge of the word’s origins or the depth required to truly embody devotion.

If you use Namaste to end or begin your yoga classes, it is recommended to do with the utmost respect for Indian culture. In some sense, Namaste has a rather formal, or at least spiritually serious, meaning and origin that can sometimes be lost in casual usage. If you truly mean to bow down in an act of worship to the eternal essence in another being, then this very act could be considered the highest form of yoga. But if you just adopt a term because it sounds cool or exotic and commodifies it without respecting the spiritual intention of it, then that could be problematic.

I start and end my classes with my hands resting in prayer position, thumbs towards the heart. This is a common gesture of both greeting respect in India and Asia and is called Anjali Mudra. In Sanskrit, Anjali signifies a gesture of reverence, benediction, and worship. A Mudra is a seal or sign. The significance of the hand position is likened to a lotus bud, representing the very beginning of an awakening in the heart of the spiritual practitioner.”

“I have always used Namaste to close out my yoga classes, and most of my students respond in kind. The one exception was the first time I taught teachers in a public school and wasn’t sure about the culture, so I didn’t use it. But by the third class, once I got to know the teachers, I began to use it, and they all respond with Namaste. I say it from a deep belief in its meaning, that we literally are all manifestations of the Divine.

I was raised as a Quaker (what I call no-frills Christianity), and one of the main ideals is recognizing the Light in yourself and others. In doing so, we feel compassion and unity toward all of humanity. So, I always close out my classes by saying, ‘The Light and Love in me honors, respects, and sees the Light and Love in each and every one of you. Namaste.’ I do this to convey the idea that I see our shared humanity/Divinity, and to remind my students to see that in each other. Hopefully, they then take this out into the world and give others a bit more slack.

For new students, I would encourage them to read up on the word to learn the subtleties of its meaning. And, to understand that it is not religious or dogmatic. I see it as a nice, compact way of saying something that many wisdom traditions say, kind of like saying Aloha.”

“When I first began practicing yoga, I was mostly searching for a way to stay motivated with exercise. Saying Namaste and bowing at the end of my class felt obligatory. I did it because everyone else did, and it held zero meaning for me. Years later, as I went through teacher training, discovered the meaning, and considered what it meant for my personal practice, my thoughts changed.

I realized sharing this word together at the end of a class can be a way for me to acknowledge we are all in this together, not just with yoga, but with life, too. Just because each person may be at a different place in their own journey doesn’t mean one person’s practice is any more worthwhile than someone else’s. Namaste encompasses all that for me.

When I began teaching, I wanted to try and create a space where no one and nothing felt forced. I decided I’d end each class with a simple expression of gratitude, followed by the word that represents so much tradition, acceptance, and love: Thank you for sharing your practice with me. Namaste.”

“I am aware that there have been a few negative thoughts around using Namaste lately. However, I like to use it as for my students and meas it feels like the word connects us to something bigger, something more than just ourselves and our own little worlds that we live in.

I often remindthem in class that we are all connected to each other; we all have the same/similar wants, needs, and desires in life. We all have hope and dreams; we are all connected to those across the room, across the state, country, and wider. I explain this by the image of dropping a stone into a lake and seeing the ripple reaching out getting bigger and bigger, I often explain that this is the same as our attitudes and how we interact with each other, we can spread and ripple out kindness and empathy or the opposite. When we take that awareness away with us after class it can make a huge difference even if we are irritated at the checkout line or stuck in traffic, our responses to ourselves and those around us can really make a difference both to our own wellbeing and that of those around us.”

“It wasn’t until I began teaching classes that the definition of Namaste bloomed within me. Namaste at the end of the class became the solidification of how I was able to touch people’s lives and souls. It’s the ending of an experience I create for people every week in every class that allows them a safe space to let go. And at the same time, it’s the beginning of a new moment of clarity that showers you the second after you say Namaste and open your eyes. I can give it many meanings, such as unity, understanding, love, and acceptance.

I would say, however, the meaning that stands out the most for me and what I’m truly feeling as I repeat this word along with everyone is, ‘we are one.’ We are all experiencing this thing called life together. It’s my way of saying that we’ve made it this far, and we are well on our way. For those that have never heard the word or have never spoken it, you don’t have to. All you get to do is allow yourself to feel it. It speaks without speaking. I don’t see it as either appropriate or inappropriate. It is truly what you make of it and what you let yourself connect to through using it.”

“Most yoga students are familiar with Sun Salutations, otherwise known as Surya Namaskar. Here one is bowing to the sun. But it’s not merely the sun that we know as part of the cosmos. In Indian cosmology, the entire universe is found writ-small within the human being with specific representations. The sun, found in the heart, is considered the ultimate source of truth and wisdom, while the moon–the light of which is the distorted reflection of sunlight–is found in the relatively intelligent (and often confused) gray matter of the brain.

Thus, in bowing with the spirit of namaste, one is bowing to the deeper truth and wisdom that resides in their heart. And just as in Surya Namaskar, where some suggest we’re bowing to Lord Surya (the Sun god) in seeking to appease him and thus manifest the light of day, in bowing to someone else with the spirit of namaste they are bowing to the truth and wisdom in the heart of another.”